Google has today published an Oxera report [What is the impact of geo?] that estimates the revenues from global Geo services at $150 billion to $270 billion per year. For context, these findings suggest that this growing industry is already larger than estimates of the size of the video game industry, and generates around one-third of the annual revenue generated by the airline industr

Dear prospective participant, The Geography Society in NUI Galway (@NUIGeography) is running a 3-day training school in NUIG during the 20-23 of August to encourage Citizen Science volunteering in Ireland. Through the availability of GPS-enabled smartphone technology, Free and Open Source Software for Geoinformatics (FOSS4G) and the increasingly low-cost of environmental testing kits (eg. water quality, soils, rasberry pi, arduino, etc.) it has never been easier for ordinary citizen to engage in scientific fieldwork and research. This process has the potential to foster not only individual capacity to act and understand, but our collective ability to deal with contemporary problems. After a welcome reception on Thursday the 20 of August, we will spend the morning of Friday the 21st of August learning from NGOs Clean Coasts (480+ volunteer groups) and Coastwatch (25+ years citizen science on beaches incl. marine litter and biodiversity) about marine litter, human capital, volunteering and leadership opportunities, biodiversity, ecosystems, habitats, water quality testing, nutrients testing, and more. Fridays activities will be completely FREE! We are providing FREE EDUCATION from top European researchers in Citizen Science including the Chair of the COST Action IC1203 Prof. Cristina Capineri from the University of Siena, Italy who will talk about the future potential that Citizen Science holds and Dr. Nuno Charneca from LNEC (Civil Eng. Institute) of Lisbon who will run a workshop on the monitoring of air & water quality using cheap (€30) open-source Arduino and Rasberry-Pi kits. Keep in mind that a MSc can cost you over €6,000!!! You will also learn about volunteering and leadership opportunities from Coastwatch who have been doing Citizen Science in Ireland for the past 25 years and Clean Coasts who represent 480 volunteer groups around the country respectively. That afternoon, we will work together to crowdsource the FIRST EVER maps of litter to reveal plastic pollution and develop new tools to share with the public. Please bring - a Laptop - Smartphone - Cable to connect the two - Respective chargers On Saturday the 22nd of August we will rent a bus and a boat to visit the Cliffs of Moher to engage in environmental research acitivities including water & air quality monitoring and biodiversity monitoring (Seabirds, maybe more?) On Sunday the 23rd of August if there is enough interest we will travel to Clew Bay in Co. Mayo where we will split into two groups: A. Croagh Patrick Climb: Hillwalk & biodiversity monitoring. B. Clew Bay Cruise: Water quality testing, Citclops app, Water transparency & more. Back in Galway ETA 7pm. These activites are being co-ordinated by Seán Lynch as part of his dissertation for a M.Sc. in Coastal & Marine Environments. Weekend activities are just €10 payable on arrival. Keep in mind that a MSc can cost you over €6,000! If you have any questions you can contact me at seanlynch@umail.ucc.ie Thank you, Seán.

Nadia Amoroso, Director of Nadia Amoroso Studio and adjunct Professor in Practice, at University of Guelph shares with us her insights on ArcGIS Online and GeoPlanner for ArcGIS Online for Urban Design and Planning.

Discover how to solve the most common problems with BIM and GIS integration. See how to easily move data between IFC, Autodesk Revit, SketchUp 2015, Esri ArcGIS, AutoCAD, and more. http://webinars.safe.com/BIM-GIS

GISCorps seeks volunteer help making a promotional video

After more than a decade of volunteering missions, GISCorps and its volunteers have a rich history of making a difference in humanitarian support. That story needs to be told and we are missing an opportunity to use videography to tell our story.

GISCorps has many example missions that include photos and written stories. See “Our Projects” on the GISCorps web page at www.GISCorps.org. However, we do not have video material on these missions to incorporate in a video. Voice and moving video material would require new material.

Examples of the sort of video we have in mind can be seen at the following sites:

GISCorps is a program of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and has very limited funding resources. Therefore, though we can pay for out-of-pocket expenses, we are looking for someone who will volunteer their time and expertise for this project.

Please contact us if you have experience in making professional quality videos and an interest in helping us to make a short (2-3 minutes) video about GISCorps. Please reply to announcement@giscorps.org by January 10th with a brief description of your experience with videography.

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